Treasure Hunt
by LadyKleo
Summary: Being a goddess may be boring. Being a demon may be tiring. What they need is a reason for being humans. And a treasure hunt sounds like a great fun! Urd/Mara
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Ah! My Goddess! and its characters belong to Kosuke Fujishima and his publishers.

**Author's Notes:** This story is sort of a sequel for Ah! My Island! (and its unpublished bonus chapter which led the main characters to sort of an established relationship). I recommend you to read that fic to avoid unnecessary questions.

**Warning!** _This story contains descriptions of romantic relationship between two females. Don't read it if you are against such things._

_Special thanks go to Nenena and Aster for helping me with this fanfiction._

**Chapter 1.**

It was an ordinary summer day, one of those when nothing interesting happens. I was lying on a rooftop of our house, showering my perfect body in sunlight and enjoying the wonderful smell of pastries that Bell was baking in the kitchen. Skuld had gone out with her boyfriend, so everything was quiet and peaceful. And in that very moment when I decided that I should go to my room, something solid fell down from the sky and hit me on my head.

It was a box. A small box, made of leather and bronze, glued with a wax, to be precise. I carefully opened it. There was a beautifully made golden key on a chain and a piece of paper covered with text written in ancient runes. I looked at the sky and shouted:

"Hey! Why don't you come down here?"

"Is your robot turned off?" Somehow I had no doubts it was her.

"I believe it's recharging in Skuld's room!" I had to shout again.

"Both of them?"

"Sigil is helping Bell in the kitchen!"

"OK then..."

Mara appeared next to me in her usual cloud of a purple smoke, holding a box very similar to mine, only darker in a colour.

"What's this all about?" I pointed at the boxes.

"Do you want a long story or a short one?"

"Try to make the long one shorter." I smiled with a corner of my lips.

"OK... I'll try to..." She stretched herself next to me. "When I woke up this morning and started to get out of my coffin, I heard something fall from its lid. I looked around and found these boxes lying on the floor. At first I thought it was someone's joke or a trap or something like that. You know, I didn't order anything and so on. But the longer I looked at them, the more I wanted to open the dark one. It just asked to be opened..." Her fingers unintentionally caressed the box. "So I did it. There was a key and sort of an instruction on what to do with it."

"Can you read and understand the entire text?" I looked at her suspiciously. The language of my "instruction" was too ancient even for me, so the meaning of some words was totally unclear.

"I understand it pretty well..." She grinned. "Umm... In most parts..."

"So, what does it say? I'm too lazy to translate it."

"It says one goddess should serve one demon..." I kicked her leg. "OK, OK. It says one goddess and one demon should find five amulets, and then they will be able to discover the source of a great power."

"Mara, I'm not playing these games any more." I shook my head. "I'm not seeking power."

"It also says that, granting humans' wishes, people like us forget about themselves, and that our own wishes should be granted as well." She murmured quietly. "I wouldn't mind if some of my wishes came true."

"So you want me to go with you on a treasure hunt?" I chuckled.

"I thought you'd be glad for a change of scenery for some time and to keep me company." She smiled smugly.

"You're too self-confident!" Even though she was right, I just couldn't admit it easily.

"And too darn hot for you to refuse." She grinned. Oh joy. She was right again. And honestly, I didn't want to bake her with a lightning so strongly, it was an accident...

------

We agreed to meet on the next morning in the city park. I decided to make an exact translation of the "instruction", so I secluded myself from everyone in my room and started preparations. Firstly, I needed a good reason for requesting a dictionary from Yggdasil. Of course, I could download it without any explanation, but Mara said there was a line about acting secretly, and my spontaneous interest in a forgotten language might seem suspicious. Eventually I made up a story about a book with alchemical recipes I found and wanted to investigate. Our system operators would have been satisfied. They think I have nothing in my mind but my lab and my TV set. Poor things. So, one hour later I had a dictionary transmitted directly into my head. I love being a goddess! And in a couple of hours I had an exact translation of the text.

"I bet you are tired of being neglected in granting your own wishes. You spend your life making human beings satisfied. Nobody deserves their desires to be fulfilled as much as you do. I can give you an unlimited source of power which can grant any of your wishes. I will not ask for anything as a price. But getting that source is not easy. Only a collaboration of a goddess and a demon can eventually open the seal. You should find five amulets, separated many years ago, bring them to a special place and open the sealed door. All the amulets are sealed as well, in their own chests, but I give you the keys. Also, be warned, you cannot use any magic besides a finding spell and the opening spell. The first amulet is hidden in the city called Tokyo. Go to the rooftop of the highest building and cast the finding spell. One more thing. Nobody should know what you are up to."

I had a mixed feelings about all that. Of course, it was going to be a great adventure. We proved already that we can collaborate very well when it is needed. And it was a great opportunity to spend some time with Mara while nobody would distract us. On the other hand, we had absolutely no idea who had given us that chance to break away from the routine. Also, the fact that we were prohibited to use magic was not really convenient. We would need money for travelling and we would probably need food to keep our bodies in normal condition. Also, my family shouldn't know where I was going to go. I rubbed my temples. Think, Urd, think. If I would disappear without any explanation, my sisters would definitely start looking for me. Eventually I decided to tell them that I should sort out my thoughts about becoming a First Class Goddess, so I needed few days out of the house all alone. Bell and Skuld were surprised, of course, but promised not to panic if I stay away from home longer than expected. And it wasn't even a lie because I was going to think about getting that worthless license. Once. Or even twice. Then I borrowed some money from Keiichi, and some from Megumi, promising that I would return it later, put few chocolate bars and a huge bottle of sake into a bag, and went to bed early. Of course, I was absolutely awake till late at night, thinking of why I had agreed to join Mara's reckless scheme again and again. I already had everything I wanted, and I didn't even grant human wishes, my job was nice and rewarding. The only explanation I could think of was the fact that it was a challenge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2. **

On the next morning I overslept. But, to my surprise, Mara overslept even more, so we were able to meet only at 2 PM. We decided to travel by train as it was advertised as the fastest way to get from Nekomi to Tokyo. And you know what? It was the longest journey in my life, or it at least seemed so then. The train was full of people, and even though we managed to get seats, I still felt quite uncomfortable. According to a guide book Mara "borrowed" at some shop, the highest building in Tokyo was the Metropolitan Government Building, and the train we were sitting in was going to stop in a couple of blocks from it. At first I even enjoyed our trip. Even though I had spent a few years on Earth already, I had never traveled by train before. However, after looking at numerous rows of absolutely identical houses for fifteen minutes I was bored to death. To make things worse, the train stopped literally every couple of minutes. Next time I should listen to a person that sells tickets and choose an express. Mara fell asleep pretty quickly, so then the only thing I could do was read about that Metropolitan tower.

What I found out from the book was that there was an observation desk on the 45th floor, which was good. But there were three more floors above, which was bad as we needed to go to the rooftop. What's more, we needed to cast a spell, so we had to hide from other visitors, which would be pretty hard as it was a late spring. All in all, the things that initially seemed to be a piece of cake were actually much more challenging. Not that I was complaining or anything...

Mara woke up about five minutes before we reached our final destination, munched a chocolate bar and seemed to be pretty cheerful and relaxed. I, on the contrary, was tired and bored, which she found vexatiously amusing.

"Do you have any further plans?" I asked.

"Me? Having plans?" Her saccharine smile made my teeth ache.

"Yeah..." I smiled back, hoping to cause similar effect.

"We'll get to the tower and decide what to do next."

"Oh... That's very thoughtful."

Actually, getting to the tower was a brilliant idea. The problem was that when we arrived to the Shinjuku Station, we were unable to find the right exit. Normally we would scan the surroundings or just teleport, but both these actions required using magic. We tried to ask humans, but their answers were quick and unclear. Only after almost an hour of running around (and some window-shopping) we were able to find a decent map of all 200 (!) exits from the station. So, when we got to the Metropolitan Government Building it was almost dinner time.

--------

The tower itself was really huge, and it made me think of the Makai Central. Of course, we do have tall buildings in Asgard, but they look absolutely different. There was a park in front of the building, big and beautiful. We also overheard that there was a Shinto temple nearby, but Mara strongly refused to go and check. After waiting in a long queue we eventually entered the observation desk. Dozens of people plastered their noses to the glass windows and looked out at the city. I must admit the view from there was really magnificent. It was sunset, so the sky, clean and cloudless, was of a deep orange colour. Far away from us, at the horizon, we could see mount Fuji, covered by snow even at this time of a year. I believe for those who had never seen such a picture before it was truly breath-taking. Even Mara spent a couple of minutes staring in the window while I was pretending that I wasn't looking at her.

We settled in a bar with some ridiculously expensive cocktails to discuss the situation.

"So, how do we get to the rooftop?" I asked, sipping my Midori Colada.

"The elevator doesn't stop at any floors besides this one and the ground floor..." Mara murmured, studying her key. It was different from mine, made of black metal with deep red gems.

"I wonder if there is a fire stair here."

"There should be one. Humans don't trust their electronics..." She glanced at a souvenir stall in the middle of the deck. "Do you want a postcard?"

"Why should I?" Her question took me unawares.

"It would be a nice keepsake." She grinned and went to the stall. The next thing I saw was her flirting with a girl selling all those crappy things.

-------

Mara returned five minutes later, looking very pleased with herself.

"The fire stair is usually closed, but the lock is in a bad condition. Some romantic fool tried to get his girlfriend to the rooftop and broke it. The door is next to the elevator. What else..." She closed her eyes for a second. "Ah, right. Here is your souvenir..." She took my hand and put a small silver charm into it. "The postcards were dull..."

"Thanks..." I smiled and chained the charm to my key. Somehow it seemed right.

"The only problem is that door..." Mara gulped her Black Russian. "I'd open it in a second, but if we can't use magic..."

"Hey, wait!" I almost jumped on my stool. "Remember, what was written in the 'instructions'? We are allowed to use an opening spell. Even though it was about opening seals, it's still the same."

"Urd, you're a bore!" She smirked, but I knew she was as relieved as I was.

--------

We had to wait a couple of hours for people to leave the deck. Since we were only allowed to use one bare opening spell without any shields, we couldn't cast it in front of humans, so we decided that I would distract the personnel while Mara would open the fire stair door. Well, at least we had plenty of alcohol to consume and many years spent separately to chat about. Mara even managed to avoid mentioning her boss, even though it was pretty difficult, because Hild finds interfering in her subordinates' lives amusing and does it almost on a daily basis. I suddenly realised how little I had known about a person I always considered as my implacable best friend. In return I told her about my years in the Asgard Academy. Of course, she knew some details about that time as we had been seeing each other regularly then, but never before could I admit how lonely I had been there. Of course, I'd had my sisters, but each of us had had her own classes, so we couldn't really share our thoughts and experiences, and I hadn't had any friends to hang out with. My father was a very busy man, and he had never visited us in our dormitory. My sisters' mother had no interest in her own children, let alone me. And of course I had had no news from my own mother. So, I had thought all the adults were cold boring egoists, and all the teenagers (besides me, of course) were stupid idiots caring only about the licenses. My rebellious nature didn't allow me to be like them, so I had started to sneak out to the neutral territories. Theoretically it was a buffer zone between Asgard and Makai, practically it was a place full of bars, casinos, shops with questionable goods etcetera, where both gods and demons, who were not afraid to be caught in an inappropriate company, spent their free time and money. Teenagers from the Academy had thought that place was cool, but way too dangerous to visit frequently. For me it had been the best place in the world, because there my dark skin was not unique, and nobody pointed at me whispering "She's a half-blood". One day there I met Mara, my childhood friend, whom I lost any contacts with after moving to Asgard. Of course, at that time our relationship couldn't have remained the same as I was a licensed Goddess, and she was aiming for her First Class Demon license, but the new-born rivalry had been even more fun. We had competed practically in everything - arcade games, singing, broom races - and after that had spent hours in local bars, where we accidentally discovered that alcohol is an additional source of energy for us both. I had told her back then that I was spending time with her because I loved competitions. Now I admitted that it had been her who had made me return to the Neutrals again and again. She didn't say anything, but her dreamy smile said everything instead.

--------

"Excuse me, miss, but I have to close the bar." The bartenders's face was sincerely sorrowful. "Could you please pay for everything you ordered?"

"Oh, of course, darling..." I almost fell from my stool, playing drunk, and started to look for a wallet in my huge bag. "I'm always forgetting where I put my money... It's soooo hard to find it..." I quickly glanced at Mara, who was signaling me that she had already opened the fire stair door. "Ahha... Here it is! It was a really nice evening, thank you very much."

I went to the place where Mara was standing slowly, waiting for a moment when nobody would look at us, and as soon as the bartender turned away, we rushed to the stairs. It was pretty dark there, but we knew we should go up. Luckily, we had to climb up only three floors, and the door leading to the rooftop was as easy as the previous one. It was horribly windy up there, so I grabbed Mara's arm and sort of hid behind her.

"Let's do it quickly..." I murmured into her ear.

"Let's do what?" She grinned.

"Cast a spell, of course. What were you thinking about?" I grinned back.

I started chanting the spell, squeezing Mara's arm with one hand and stretching another in front of me. She joined me and stretched out her hand as well. Fireworks of glittery purple sparks started to dance around our fingers, then lazily flew down to the park, and finally dived into a small waterfall. We sighed with disappointment. After all these problems with getting to the rooftop, now we had to go back to the park.

"I'm not going to go all the way back downstairs on foot." Mara declared.

"What are you going to do then?" I looked at a small shiny dot sparkling from underwater.

"I'll jump. And while I'm close enough to the surface, I'll stop falling by magic, using only my own powers. I won't be detected. Are you with me?"

"Sometimes you frighten me with your reckless logic..." I murmured and squeezed her hand. "But your idea is much better than the alternative."

We jumped from the rooftop, holding hands, like two unhappy lovers in a suicide attempt. But, unlike those hypothetical losers, we laughed madly, enjoying our free fall. Fresh air embraced us and the wind played with our hair. At one moment I almost lost my bag, but managed to catch it. We slowed down only a couple of seconds before bumping into the ground, but that was a little late. We fell down, giggling insanely. Then Mara grabbed my hand, and we ran towards the waterfall. There was surprisingly not too many people in the park, so I believe nobody noticed two foreigners jumping into the water. Excited, we even forgot to take off our shoes.

The treasure chest was exactly where our guiding sparkle marked it should be. It was quite similar to the boxes our keys came with, but a little bigger and surrounded by a magical field. Our opening spell worked like a charm, but this time, just like with the finding spell, we had to cast it together. Inside the chest there was a bronze medallion carved with ancient ornament and a piece of parchment with further "instructions."

"The next amulet you will find very close to the giant letters in the hills."

We looked at the runes, trying to figure out if there was a better explanation of where we should go, and suddenly I realised how easy it was. I pressed my palms to my face.

"It's Hollywood."

"That town in America where they shoot all those cool action movies?" It seemed Mara liked this idea.

"Yeah... But how will we get there?" I was sitting on a bench and looking at the amulet.

"Like humans do!" She sat next to me and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "After all the years I was stuck in this dimension, I've got some connections."

"What do you mean?"

"You plan the trip, I get us documents and some money."

"My, my..." I shook my head. "Have you got _some connections_ with criminals?"

"That's none of your business." She grinned.

-------

We spent all the remaining money we had on a room in the Washington Hotel right across the road from the Metropolitan tower. It was really nice to finally soak in a hot bubble bath after jumping into the cold evening air, standing in a pool of water and finally leaving the park in the wet shoes. We remained awake till late at night, celebrating our first find with sake and a good late dinner, and watching a new promising series on TV. That was a great way to relax after a long day. And then we went to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Author's Notes_: I know it's too short, but I have no time for writing. :( The "real" chapter is in progress.

------------

To be honest, I'd never ever thought that getting into a library could be so difficult. A front desk guy asked me to provide some ID before going inside. I don't really know what eventually made him change his mind. That was either my sincere smile while I was telling him I wasn't going to take any books away from the library, or the fact that because of the heat I unbuttoned my blouse as much as possible. Anyway, I got my temporary pass and went in. That library was unlike any I'd been in before. Here there were actual books on shelves, hundreds of them, and if you need to look for a book you have to first look in a catalogue, then find it on a shelf, and after that spend hours reading it. Back at home our libraries are totally different. Everything is recorded in special crystals, and you can get all the information you need by simply touching a crystal. Everything goes directly into your head. Of course, we do have books, but those are mostly for pleasure and for killing time.

So, after a long search I eventually found two books about California. One of them was useless as it was some economical research, but the second one turned to be a guide book for tourists. I spent almost two hours reading it, writing down anything that might be useful and remembering maps. Getting to Los Angeles from Japan wasn't difficult if you had money, and I hoped Mara would be able to get some. Getting to the letters might well turn into something challenging as the surrounding area was closed for visitors. So, we had to sneak in again. I bet Mara will love it.

Mara met me at the library entrance, and, looking at her smug grin, I could guess she'd gotten everything we needed. We headed to the nearest coffee shop, choose a table in the furthest corner and ordered Irish coffee. When our waitress left us alone, Mara put a simple white envelope in front of me. Inside there was a passport and some other documents, all with my photo on them.

"Ursula Talman." I read.  
"Yup." Mara nodded lazily.  
"But why Sweden?"  
"Neither of us looks very Japanese." She yawned. "So I just closed my eyes and pointed at the map of Europe. There was Sweden under my finger."  
"How could it be that easy to forge the documents? It only took few hours." I looked at the passport refusing to believe it was "real".  
"I told you, I have some connections."  
"Come on..."  
"Ok, ok. It was made by one guy who is not a human. A Neutral."  
"But..."  
"He lives, luckily for us, here in Tokyo. I used his services several times in the past, and he never asked any questions."  
"I never knew it's possible for them to live here..." I scratched my temple.  
"It's possible for you, it's possible for me, so why should it be impossible for them?"  
"I don't know..."

At that moment the waitress brought our coffee, and we fell silent, distracted by its strong aroma. Irish coffee is one of those things I really love but rarely have, and it seemed that Mara shared my feelings. So we drunk it in silence, looking at each other. I was still not used to her calm face and somehow dreamy expressions, even though she didn't hide it from me any more. It was so different from Mara I had known for my entire life. Now she was sipping her coffee and looking at me with a self-satisfied yet peaceful smile.

"So, what's your name then?" I felt I had to break that silence.  
"Mara Krosby," She grinned.  
"Why do you keep your own name while I have to be Ursula?" I almost jumped from my chair.  
"Because my name, unlike yours, sounds normal!"  
"One day... One day I'll kill you!" It took a lot of effort not to do it right at that very second.  
"Nah, you won't..." She sipped her coffee again. "Your life without me will be heavenly boring."  
"I'm not sure if it's worse than amusing like Hell life with you!"  
"Oh, I bet it is.

With those new passports we went to a travel agency just to find out that our "booked" tickets to America had been waiting for us already. They also booked us a room in an "amazingly beautiful" hotel in Los Angeles. Everything was just too easy to be true. As a bonus they sold me a guide book for tourists. According to it we had to buy a huge suitcase to keep our belongings, a camera and a hat. After discussing this matter we came to a conclusion, that we didn't need a suitcase and a hat, but taking pictures might be interesting.

-----

The next day was absolutely totally insane. Somehow we thought that Narita International Airport was inside of the Tokyo borders. It obviously wasn't, and only the professional skills of the taxi driver who agreed to take us there for a ridiculously huge amount of money saved us from missing our plane. The flight itself was horribly long and boring, until I discovered there was a small TV screen in the back of the seat in front of me. They had a nice collection of movies I hadn't seen previously, so at last I had something to kill time. Mara spent hours polishing her English speaking skills by talking to some American couple and convincing them that investing their money into a casino business was a fantastic idea. By the end of the flight they were so impressed that I had to tell them Mara was just kidding. The look of their faces was worth seeing.

Los Angeles met us with a bright sun and a fresh breeze. We took a taxi and got downtown pretty quickly. It was different from any place I had visited before. Here and there appeared buildings I'd seen in movies, but now they were real. Amazed, I looked at everything with an idiotic smile. Mara seemed to be amused by my behaviour, but I didn't care at that moment. Who would care about such small things when there was the Kodak Theatre in front of them?

"I'm starved..." Mara announced as soon as we entered our hotel room.  
"Room service or a restaurant?" I asked, taking off my shoes and falling down to the bed.  
"I choose option one..." She jumped on me and bit my neck.  
"Hey! Stop it!" I pushed her away.  
"Yummm." She whispered with her eyes closed.  
"You could catch a goodness virus!" I giggled, looking at her instantly changed expression.  
"Bleh! No way!" She shook her head. - Hey, it's impossible to catch anything like that from you! You may call yourself a goddess, but you actually are...

I didn't let her finish the sentence.


End file.
